


Parts

by kathkin



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-11
Updated: 2008-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-18 00:03:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/873436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathkin/pseuds/kathkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adric's death and its aftermath.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Adric had heard that your whole life passed before your eyes as you died.

In a way this was true. Part of him was focused on Alzarius, on Keara, on Varsh, on things he’d scarcely thought about since leaving E-space (home seems so distant in the TARDIS. He’s realised that a few hours ago: he thought of his wasted effort, plotting a course that would never be used).

He thought of K-9, and Romana, of Traken, of Monarch, of the Kinda and the Mara, of the Master’s web on Castrovalva.

The Doctor had got him out of that, and part of him stayed sure he’d be rescued now.

Until the cyberman had died on the floor in front of him, the thought that he might not survive this hadn’t even crossed his mind. He’d had too much faith, faith in his own abilities, faith in the Doctor.

Part of him listened intently for the familiar whine of the TARDIS, waited for the Doctor to take him away from there, for Tegan to tell him that she was alright, that she knew it hadn’t been his fault, there was nothing he could have done, for Nyssa... they’d both lost their planets now, he realised. He wondered if they’d bond over the mutual experience.

A part of him couldn’t stop thinking about his failure, how the earth would be destroyed (he didn’t know how far back they’d traveled. He wondered what would happen to Tegan if her planet was destroyed before she’d even been born. Would she just fade away? What about the crew of the freighter, those people in the escape pod?).

A planet was going to be destroyed, and it was all his fault. If he’d been just a little quicker...

But, as the earth grew closer, an increasing part of him could only think about how big it looked (planets had always seemed small, seen too close up to know their true size, or so far away they looked tiny), and how, in a few short moments, he’d be dead (he wondered briefly if it would hurt, or if it’d be too quick for that).

He stood, terrified, but staring his fate down defiantly, because the Cyberleader had all but said he wanted them to be afraid, and he couldn’t give in to the Cyberleader. The Doctor wouldn’t want him to give in.

The last thought to pass through his mind was that he wasn’t going to be afraid.


	2. Chapter 2

She just couldn’t get the idea out of her head.

After it happened, she’d gone to talk to the Doctor.

She’d asked him, haltingly, if Adric would have felt anything as he’d died. He’d told her, as gently as he could, that the freighter and everything on it had been destroyed instantly in the explosion, broken down into molecules (that was his words, ‘broken down’, not hers). Adric's death had been instantaneous, he said.

It didn’t help. She kept thinking about Adric, shattered, ‘broken down’ into tiny parts and spread across the world. The idea that he was part of the earth now didn’t comfort her. The thought that she could have been walking on, breathing in, even eating bits of Adric all her life horrified her.

But that was just silly. They weren’t bits of Adric any more, just molecules, particles like any other (she knew enough about science to know that). There was nothing left.

Somehow, that bothered her even more. She’d mentioned this to Nyssa, who was mystified. On Traken, she said, the body was usually burnt before the funeral, as soon as possible. It wasn’t important, she said. The person was already gone.

Then she’d realised that she was only making things worse, done her best to comfort Tegan, and fled back to the console room.

She’d tried and tried, but she couldn’t get the idea out of her head.

There was nothing left but particles, parts, floating about in the air.


	3. Chapter 3

Nyssa hadn’t been at all surprised when it happened.

After all, Adric was a part of her life. They’d been close. It stood to reason that she’d lose him. She was losing all the parts of her life.

Her mother had died, on Traken, not all that long ago. Everyone agreed that’d she’d been too young to die, but Kassia had been even younger.

Nyssa had been so happy at the wedding, for both of them, but before she knew it, Kassia was gone. And Seron, and Proctor Neman, and then her father, killed and taken over by the master.

But it had still been alright (just about). She’d met the Doctor, and Adric, and Tegan.

She’d seen the Doctor as immutable, wandering the universe in a ridiculously long scarf for eternity, and even though she’d only just met him, her heart skipped a beat when he fell.

He’d changed, right in front of her. She’d heard that Time Lords could regenerate, but she hadn’t realised how much they changed. The new Doctor was younger, blond, so much more subdued... it was a while before she could see them as the same person.

Then there was Professor Kyle. She’d liked Professor Kyle. They’d both chosen to stay behind rather than go and fight, they were both scientists... she thought they could have been friends. But the Professor had died as well.

So when the freighter was crashing, and Tegan and the Doctor were working frantically to save him, she’d known there was no chance. Because Adric was part of her life, and it stood to reason that she’d lose him.


End file.
